Perched in a purple, child-sized chair, author Melinda Long puts on her best pirate’s brogue as she reads to a class of incoming 5K students at Legacy Charter Elementary School.

“Talk like a pirate,” Long exhorts. “Shiver me timbers!”

The dozen or so students yell in unison, “Shiver me timbers!” Long compliments the children, “You make a great pirate crew.”

As she’s done countless times in the past decade, Long is reading her best-selling book “How I Became a Pirate” to a classroom full of students. This September marks the 10th anniversary of its publication, and as an unexpected treat, “How I Became a Pirate” will be featured at the National Book Festival, to be held Sept. 21 and 22 in Washington, D.C.

The selection came as a surprise to Long.

“I don’t think they knew that” this was the 10th anniversary, says Long, chatting in a classroom after her reading is finished. “They just chose it out of the blue, but it was fortunate that it happened to be on the 10th anniversary, and they decided to make it represent South Carolina in the National Book Festival.”

The festival features a U.S. map with the theme, “Discover Great Places Through Reading,” with one book representing each state.

“How I Became a Pirate,” written by Long and illustrated by David Shannon, went to No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list, won several awards, and has been translated into 16 languages, but this is especially nice, says Long, a former teacher.

“It’s just really exciting to know it’s going to be there and it’s going to represent South Carolina. To me, that’s just a huge honor, and it’s so nice that it’s going to be on the 10th anniversary of the book being published,” she says.

Long, who taught at Tanglewood Middle School for 22 years, began writing at the age of 6. It all started one rainy day when she was bored, and her mother was desperate for a little peace and quiet.

“My mom was trying to get me out of her hair one day, and gave me some stamps and said, ‘Here, write a story,’” Long recalls. “They were rubber stamps, and she gave me a stamp pad, with pictures of Yogi Bear on the stamps. ... I really did not like holding a pencil, but she knew that. She gave me her typewriter, and I did the typing, and it was so cool. I enjoyed writing it so much that I just kept on doing it all the way through elementary, middle and high school.”

(Page 2 of 2)

Long began sending her work to publishers in 1984, but “it was 12 years before I got the first nibble,” and another four before her first book, “When Papa Snores,” was published.

She’s written six books, and she left the classroom in 2006 because she had a tough time balancing the teaching, the writing and the personal appearances connected to the book.

“How I Became a Pirate” spawned a sequel, “Pirates Don’t Change Diapers.” Long is working on a third book, tentatively titled “Shiver Me Pirates,” but, she says, “God knows if and when it will ever come out.”

“How I Became a Pirate” was turned into a musical stage production several years ago, and it’s going to be presented in September by Gaffney Little Theater and Limestone College, where Long’s son Bryan is a theater major and will perform in the play. Long will miss the National Book Festival because she’ll be in Gaffney for the production.

Pirates are an appealing topic for writers, and a fun subject for kids, for several reasons, Long says.

“Pirates can do anything they want to do and get away with it,” she says, laughing. “They have great lingo, they wear wonderful outfits, and they pretty much can do anything without getting in trouble.”

While most of her books are aimed at elementary school-age kids, Long has a special fondness for the middle-school set, since she spent most of her career teaching sixth- through eighth-graders.

“They can make you crazy, but they have such insight. Of course, you have to watch it. Some days they walk in the room, and they’d just as soon scream at you as look at you, but they have really good insight, and they’re fun most of the time. And there’s never a dull moment with middle school.”